Intranet

IT Solution for an
Organisation
Government of India
Ministry of Communication & Information Technology
Department of Information Technology
National Informatics Centre
Training Division, New Delhi
 Intranet : Lecture Plan

 Recap of Internet
 Introduction to Intranet
 Intranet Site : An example
 Intranet Applications
 Intranet Security Issues
 H/W & S/W requirements
 Guidelines for building Intranet
 Maintenance of an Intranet site
 Recapitulation of Internet
 The Internet is “The Network of Networks”
 Internet is like a Phone system which
➤ Connects (almost anywhere in the world)
➤ Exchanges information
➤ Acts as Global link between regional networks
➤ Allows unrestricted access
 Used for
➤ E-Mail messages
➤ News groups
➤ File Transfer
➤ Documents, data ( multimedia) sharing
 Basic Terminology used in
Web Technology
 Web Site
 Home page
 Hyperlink
 External Links
 Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
 Server S/W
 Browser S/W
 Protocols like TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP
 ISP ( Internet Services Provider )
 Uniform Resource Locator

 Method of accessing Internet Resources

 URLs are used by Web browsers to connect
you directly to a specific document or home
page on WWW, without having to know
where that resource is physically located.
 What is a protocol ?

 In networking and communications, the

formal specification that defines the
procedures to be followed when
transmitting and receiving data. Protocols
define the format, timing, sequence and
error checking used on the network
 Advantages of Web based
applications:

 Platform independent
 Ease of Deployment
 Global Accessibility
 Low Cost Solution
What is Intranet ?
 Intranet is an Internal network within an
organisation / dept that uses Internet standards of
HTML
( Hyper Text Marker Language) and HTTP
( Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and TCP/IP
( Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
along with graphical Web Browser to provide
interdepartmental business / communication
solutions
 Intranet is like a private internet
 Advantages of Intranets

 Valuable tool for effective and efficient

communication and sharing of information
within the organisation / department with
minimal additional financial implications.
Difference between
Internet and Intranet
Internet Intranet
 Public  Private

 World Wide  You can create and use an

Intranet without ever being
connected to the Internet.

•Both run on networks (TCP/IP)

•Both use the same type of Sever / Client
software (eg. Internet Information Server, Netscape)
 Difference between LAN &
Intranet
➤ Information shared 1.
between computers
through LAN
connectivity
➤ One has to ensure that the 2.
computers whose files
are being shared are kept
ON and permissions for
sharing are given
➤ The S/W in which the file 3.
is created should be
available on the computer
accessing the file
A corporate LAN that
uses Internet S\W and
TCP/IP protocol
standards.
The information is
shared through Web
Technology which is
based on Hypertext /
Hypermedia concept
The files being shared
are platform independent
 Extranets

When the Intranet is extended to

external users, it is called the
extranet.
 Idea of size of Intranet setup
Organisation No. of Internal
Web Sites
- Digital Equipment Corp. > 400

- Silicon Graphics > 600

- Sun Microsystems > 1000

Prediction is that in the year 2000 server licenses

for Intranet usage will outdistance those for
Internet usage by 10 : 1
 Few examples of Intranet
Applications
 Newsletters
 Distribution of circulars / Office Orders
 Standard forms / data sheets
 Sharing of information of common interest
 Launching of personal/ departmental home pages
 Publicity of Policies/Rules & Regulations
 Files Tracking
 Submission of reports
 Frequently Asked Questions etc
 A Typical Intranet site consisting of
inter linked Web pages
Home
Page

In-house News / Chat

Groups
Personal Web
FAQs / Feed back forms pages
etc.

Email
Employees
Circulars Scedules Corporate
Info Database
Manuals Internal Jobs Calendars
Procedure offerings
 Intranet Site of an Organisation
 Head Quarters

Controlled Regional Office1 Head

Access Regional Office2 Quarters

Regional
Offices
Controlled
Access
Branch
Offices/
Depts
 Types of Web Pages

 Static Web Pages

 Interactive pages, in which the contents

change based on the inputs

 Various response Forms to input data
How Interactive / Dynamic
web pages ceated ?
Submit / Search button on the form establishes
link with server to send / receive the data for
triggering further actions like :
 storing the data in a database
 format the input data in a different HTML page
 send data to an email address
 trigger display of another web page that user
selected in the form
One needs to write CGI (Common Gateway Interface )
scripts using any programming language such as C,
C++, else Visual Basic, Java etc allow to create
Interactive Web Pages.
 Intranet Security

Think carefully on this issue at the time of

planning itself
 Two levels of Security required:
 Internal
(It can be imposed by Access Controls / Encryption keys
etc.)
 External
….cont
 Intranet Security (Fire wall)

 It is a S/W to have :
➝ Controlled access to sensitive systems
➝ Centralised security administration
➝ Sophisticated packet filtering schemes
➝ logging and statistics on network usage
Note : Like any anti virus S/W this also needs to be upgraded
from time to time to ensure that it takes care of latest
potential security problems
 External Security
( Proxy Servers)
 Proxy server is another S/W that handles traffic to
external host systems on behalf of Client S/W
running on protected network
 It is like a one way mirror, in which you can see
out, but potential intruder can’t see in.
 It blocks access to services on the Internet that you
don’t want user users to be able to access
 It also provides logging and statistics information
on network usage
Infrastructure - H/W
requirement
 The H/W need varies in direct relation to the number of
users & the complexity of the intranet. Minimum
configuration may be as follows
 A 486 or Pentium CPU
 A 500MB to 2GB HDD
 16MB RAM
 VGA

The company accessing multimedia files, sound & video

files also need sound cards, speakers, video cards & high
resolution monitors.
S/W requirement for an
Intranet Server
 Multithreading Operating System
( Windows 95 / Windows NT / UNIX etc. )

 Web Server S/W

( eg. IIS, ORACLE, BasisPlus, Netware, Fast
Track Server, Netscape Enterprise Server etc)

 TCP / IP based network

S/W requirement for an
Intranet Client Work station
 Operating System
( Windows 95 /Windows NT Work Station /UNIX etc. )
 Web Browsing S/W ( eg. Internet Explorer, Netscape
Navigator, LYNX for text based web browsing etc. )

 Web Authoring Tools like MS Office, Front page,

Programming languages S/W like Java, C++ etc for creating Web pages.

 The Client system should be part of network

over TCP/IP
 Configuring with IP address

 One needs to configure the Web server with local

IP address/ Domain name to get Intranet
components like: Email, World Wide Web
(HTTP), news groups, File Transfer
Protocol(FTP) utilities etc. within the local
network
 For getting Internet connectivity, the Web server
needs to be configured with IP address provided
by Internet Services Provider (ISP) agency
 Creating a Realistic Intranet
Plan
Try to answer these questions:
 Why you need an Intranet ?
 What are your goals ?
 What resources you will need ?
 How much will it cost ?
 What should be its contents ?
 What should be security requirements ?
 Major Roles Associated with
Intranet Site Maintenance
 Web Master:

Responsible for interaction with user to

look into the complaints regarding Intranet
and look forward for their suggestions
 Web Administrator:
Responsible for day to day running of
Intranet and monitoring of usage logs
 Contents Authors:
Responsible for creations / updating of
contents of web pages
 Intranet Developer:

Responsible for development of scripts and

programs, which can not be done by
creating static Web pages alone
 Prioritizing the Goals

Out of the list of several identified items , to be

put on Intranet, prioritize them by asking
following questions like:
 What will give biggest return ?
 Why is this page here ?
 What am I trying to achieve on this page ?
 What is the best way to present this
information? As a table, text, or as a graphic ?
 Guidelines for setting Intranet

 Identify Server in LAN over TCP/IP

 Configure it with IP address and DNS
name allotted by Internet Services Provider
agency / LAN system Administrator
 Load Web Server S/W
 ( A Web home page will get created )
 Do planning for web publishing of documents to
be shared / updated by others within the
organisation
….cont
Guidelines for setting
Intranet
 On Client end, load Web Browsing S/W
 Convert the original documents into HTML
format by using Internet features of MS Office
 For creating better HTML Documents, use Web
Authoring tools like Front page, Adobe’s Page
maker , Acrobat Reader
 You can view the HTML file through Web
browser available on Client system
….cont
Guidelines for setting
Intranet
 Transfer the HTML file to relevant directory /
folder on Server either through Network
Neighborhood / through “ftp”/ Email attachment
 Hyperlink the HTML pages / forms with home
page at relevant place
 Write CGI Scripts for interactive / dynamic web
pages using programming languages like Java, C,
C++ etc. if required so.
 Maintenance of Intranet site

 Identify Intranet site Administrator

responsible for management / updating of
Intranet site from time to time
 Ensure that concerned agencies update
their respective web pages, whenever
required so
 Keep backup of the S/W and data
 Publicizing Intranet Site

 Remember the phrase, people usually say:

“Change is good, you do first”

Thus extra efforts need to be put to make the people
adopt new way to working by:
 Making the user user interfaces user friendly and
self explanatory
 By doing proper publicity
 By providing right training to personnel in right
time in right format
 Thank You

For further information and suggestions please contact

Training Division
National Informatics Centre
A-block, CGO Complex
Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
E-mail:trghqt@alpha.nic.in
Website: http://training.nic.in